i have been lurking for a long time here and i think i'm prepared to speak about this experience openly.. .
i was born in a jw family and i grew up as the average jehovah's witness does.
even being very young, i helped with the territories and other work in the congregation.
Thank you for sharing your experience and I'm so sorry that you had to deal with that and carry the burden for so long. You totally did the right thing and I'm so glad that your mother is ok now. The blood doctrine is one of the most awful of all the JW beliefs. I can't believe that the elder actualy told you to forge your mothers signature!! Unbelievable.
Welcome to the forum.
i was reading an article where it said that weeding rings and the brides vail come from pagan origins,... who have any more?,please post.
The bridesmaids are pagan as well, they are there to confuse and ward off evil spirits. I always found it really bizarre that JW's wouldn't allow the throwing of confetti or rice but would allow all the other pagan wedding traditions. Even before I learned the TTATT, I would point out this to my parents and others, they would just say it was ok because weddings and marriage were gods arrangement...
just wondering of those of you that have left or are fading and have married ones still in, how is it going, is there hope or is the marriage doomed?
wondering what are the percentages.
i'm fading fast but wife is zealous as ever and we don't talk spiritual things at all anymore.
It only took a few months for my husband, he was never all that spiritually strong anyway, I was always the uber-dub who took the lead as the spiritual head. He is now pretty much an athiest, has a beard (he always had one on and off anyway much to the dismay of the cong) and we are celebrating our sons 5th birthday tomorrow. There is always hope that your spouse will follow you, just be patient, its so tough at first. Just try and make them think, don't blind them with all your doubts at once. Be patient. Thankfully it hasn't affected things for us at all, I'm so sorry for all those who have not had it so lucky :(
there are many silly doctines and viewpoints.. one of the strangest ones is the blood doctrine.. why anyone could logically accept this belief is beyond reason..
That you can celebrate anniversaries, but not birthdays
^^ yup, totally stupid. You can however, throw the mother-to-be, a baby shower complete with cake, presents and party games and you can buy the newborn baby as many gifts as you like but buy them a gift a year later and they will df your ass
Other stupid ones - they believe what scientists say about the age of the earth but when it comes to the descent of man and the time that man has been on the earth, then you better completely ignore all scientific proof and believe that man has only walked on earth for 6000 years because the bible says so.
That all animals were once vegetarian.
That there was a global flood
The 607/1914 thing
The GB being chosen by god to direct his organisation
The blood doctrine, not so much stupid, just the most unloving, unscriptural rule to enforce on people. Murderers.
personally, i respect that everyone has choices to believe whatever they want to believe.
i have no interest in joining another religion....what about you?.
Nope, not at all. I'm pretty much an atheist these days. Although I'd love just to attend the religious services at a few different churches, not because I want to join or believe in anything, just to see what its like. JW's always claim that they are the only ones who have love amongst themselves etc and I'd like just to attend a Mormon service or a Catholic service because I'm sure that they aren't all fighting and brawling in the aisles as JW's would have us believe..
the scoop of humanity at one khall, the anointed ones" were a mixed group.. one bro, h. had been in for eons.
he was df for adultery, back in the day when they would announce your sin openly from the platform to everyone.
he just kept on coming and partaking until he was reinstated.
Very interesting thread. I never met any annointed and didn't know of any, never attended a memorial with any partakers so the whole annointed thing was a bit of a mystery to me, something I could never really understand even when I still believed it all.
ok. this is something i've wondered about.. people of certain religions tend to use their own holy book as evidence for things in itself.
this seems very circular to me.
using the book to prove the book in my view is pointless.. i am not aware of any of the 'miracles' of the bible or the quran as having any substantial evidence outside of themselves to give credibility to the books themselves.. has anyone come across such evidence?.
None, zilch.
just a thought, do the gb actually beleive they are gods chosen reps and truly beleive this crap or are they just in it for the power and the authority.
I honestly don't know. I guess its better if they do truely believe it, then at least they are sincere in their stupidity but if they don't believe it and its all some sort of elaborate hoax then they amongst the worst of all the scumbags to walk this earth.
so as of today, it is my one year anniversary of being out.
i simplified it so that most people who know nothing of jws can understand.
in addition to writing this as self therapy, i plan to use it to educate others in my life who need to know more about where i come from.
Welcome, as a born in I can identify with a lot of your story so far. Look forward to hearing some more.
i remember being in high school hoping i would make it to see graduation sometimes even praying for it as i could feel the end was near.
but i graduated leaving behind prospects for school because i knew i needed to work hard in service to prove i deserved the real life.
i heard a talk at a convention that nearly guaranteed this system would be wrapping up soon and it scalded my mind with assurance that i was not sacrificing for anything.. i remember in the keynote address the speaker said we would only be back for another convention if god wanted.
All the best with your dreams, you'll be there very soon. Enjoy :)
I have missed out on 30 years of birthdays and Christmas, I'm looking forward to December to celebrate my very first birthday and Xmas at the ripe old age of 31. Other than that, I'm just very very thankful to be out now, at a relatively young age and greatful that I'll not have to subject my children to it all.
